Remarks on the Present System of Road Making / With Observations, Deduced from Practice and Experience, With a View to a Revision of the Existing Laws, and the Introduction of Improvement in the Method of Making, Repairing, and Preserving Roads, and Defending the Road Funds from Misapplication. Seventh Edition, Carefully Revised, With an Appendix, and Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons, June 1823, with Extracts from the Evidence

by John Loudon McAdam

Do you consider that the application of the materials upon that road is at present good?—Yes. It is the better construction of the road, together with the different materials from what they used formerly, which have been the means of making that road better. They have brought chalk and flints from Kent by the canal, and have got them at as small an expense as gravel; and these have formed a hard well-bound road, which was formerly bad.

Upon what other roads do your coaches travel?—I will mention one which is precisely the contrary, the Uxbridge road.

Gravel is usually employed on that?—Solely gravely and the road is very flat. It is made lower than the fields, which draws the water upon it, and therefore it cannot be drawn off from it. That is the chief cause of the road being so bad.

Is it not the practice upon that road to pile up the scrapings or drift by the side of the road?—It is.

Within your experience, do you consider that the goodness of the roads is at all in proportion to the local advantages or disadvantages; or have you found that the skill and experience of the surveyors employed upon them have effected particular improvements?—They chiefly depend upon having good surveyors. The Dover road will show that more than any other road I know of. I can remember that within these seven years, what was then called “The Sun in the Sands” has been made a very good road. That road was all loose and sandy: they have drained it, and it is now a very good road.

Can you state under whose superintendence that road is placed?—Mr. Collis’s. He is now employed on the Brighton road, effecting the same sort of improvement; reducing hills, and making the road good.

Do you find that the roads on which your coaches travel, are much worse in the neighbourhood of London than the more distant parts?—I find them worse for coaches near London, but it may be attributed partly to the greater quantity of travelling near London to what there is in the country.

Are the horses that you employ in the stages near London of superior value to those that are employed at a greater distance?—It differs according to the carriage. I think with the stage coaches, the horses out of London are considerably more in value than those employed at a greater distance from London; and as to mail coaches, vice versa. In the country, the day stock of the coaches is very good, but in the night they work them very badly.

Do you find that your horses that are employed in the stages near London, wear out sooner than those at a greater distance?—Much sooner, I should think. I employ about four hundred horses myself, and I am sure I buy one hundred and fifty a year to support the number, and keep the stock in order. I consider that my stock wears out fully in three years.

How much longer on an average, will horses last at a distance from town?—I should think double the time: for these reasons; first, the work is lighter, and next, the food is better; besides which, the lodging of them is better; the stables are airy and more healthy; they have not so often diseases in the country as we have in London.